PRESS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to be recognized at the EABC
Business Excellence Awards
The awards will recognize innovation and outstanding achievement
across SME sector
Arusha, Tanzania, 22nd January, 2018:- East Africa’s ultimate
business accolade, the EABC Business Excellence Awards (www.eabc-online.com/awards) has been
launched as EABC commemorates the 20th Anniversary.
The inaugural EABC Business Excellence Awards aims at showcasing
and celebrating businesses that have achieved excellence in various aspects of
their operations across East Africa, keeping with the spirit of the East
African integration.
The EABC Business Excellence Awards will recognize
innovation and outstanding achievement across SME sector which account for over
25 per cent of East Africa’s Gross Domestic Product and make up nearly 90 per
cent of all registered enterprises in East Africa.
“SMEs support creation
of sufficient employment and income opportunities for the steadily growing
population in the EAC countries” said Ms. Lilian Awinja.
SMEs are a nursery for the larger firms of the future. They are
involved in the development of appropriate technology as with increasing
competition within the SMEs new solutions will be brought forth across
different sectors. Furthermore, disruptive technology is enabling SMEs to seize
opportunities of the EAC and global market from inception of the firm.
Given their prominent role in EAC Partner States’ economies,
SMEs are particularly important for the achievement of the development
objectives of the Community hence need to be recognized!
The Best East African Company – SME Award seeks to recognize SMEs that have achieved notable success in its area
of operation. The judges will be looking for companies who, despite their size,
have been able to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the EAC
through exporting of their products and services. This award is open to
companies that employ between 1-10 persons and have an overall turnover of less
than USD 100,000.
We encourage all SMEs in the region to submit their entries for
the EABC Business Excellence Awards at www.eabc-online.com/awards the
deadline for submission is 17th February 2017.
“Winners are people who
enter competitions, you can be the best at something but if you don’t compete;
Emerging as a winner of the EABC Business excellence award
enables a firm to proudly show case its greatness among peers in East Africa.
In addition to benchmarking, the awards will also serve as an additional
promotion to their brand by providing more mileage in marketing and
increasing credibility to customers.
At regional level, the EAC has prioritized the need for
facilitation and the development of small and medium scale industries including
sub-contracting and other relations between larger and smaller firms, as a
strategy to achieve the EAC industrial development goals. The
importance of the SMEs sector in the transformation of EAC economies has also
been well articulated in the East African Industrialization Policy for the
period 2012-2032 (EAC, 2012a) and in the EAC Development strategy for the
period 2012-2016 (EAC, 2012b).
Award Categories
The inaugural EABC Business Excellence Awards will be
organized across three categories. The first category will see one company
feted as the Overall East African Regional Company. A second category of awards
will recognize business that have excelled in cross cutting categories, namely
Manufacturing, Services, SME, Woman owned enterprise, Green Economy, Innovation
and Corporate Social Responsibility. A third category will award companies
excelling in a specific industry and will reward outstanding companies across 7
industries, namely Financial Services, Transport and Logistics (including
airline), Media, Tourism & Hospitality, Building & Construction and
Extractive & Mining sector.
“The EABC Business Excellence Awards (BEA’s) are designed to
recognize and celebrate exceptional business performance” said Ms. Lilian
Awinja, EABC CEO.
Notes to Editors
Entry process
Entries are open for companies established in any of the EAC
Partner States with each company eligible to submit bids for at most three
categories of the awards. This may include one entry for the overall award and
any two entries for either the cross cutting category or the sector specific
categories. The three entries may also be from the cross cutting and sector
specific categories only.
Entries will be completed online through a dedicated portal at: www.eabc-online.com/awards that will sit within
the EABC website. Entrants will register in the portal, giving basic
information about the individual/organization. Once registered in the portal,
entrants will choose the category that they wish to enter and complete the
official entry form. The entry forms detail all the information required for
each of the categories.
About EABC
The East African Business Council (EABC) is the apex body of
business associations of the Private Sector and Corporates from the 6 East
African Countries. It was established in 1997 to foster the interests of the
Private Sector in the integration process of the East African Community.
Originally comprising members from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, its membership
was expanded to include private sector from Burundi and Rwanda as well as South
Sudan in 2007 and 2016 respectively. Currently, EABC draws its membership from
Associations and corporate Members. Amongst the associations are all the
national Private Sector Apex Bodies; manufacturers’ Associations;
Chambers of Commerce, Employer Associations; Women Associations,
Bankers Associations and the Confederation of Informal Sector Associations of
East Africa. Given that the Secretariat is based in Arusha, EABC’s structure
includes National Focal Points (NFPs) – who are all currently the national
private sector apex bodies.
EABC’s overarching objective is to be an effective change agent
for fostering an enabling business environment and to promote private sector’s
regional and global competitiveness in trade and investment. EABC therefore
provides a regional platform through which the business community can present
their concerns at the EAC policy level, with the overall aim of creating a more
conducive business environment through targeted policy reforms. Additionally,
EABC also work towards promoting private sector’s regional & global
competitiveness in trade and Investment through addressing challenges
experienced by Members at organizational and firm level; and through provision
of tailored market intelligence.
EABC’s key stakeholders are primarily the EAC Secretariat, the
Business Community as represented through Members and their affiliates,
National Policy Makers, EAC organs and institutions and other key national and
regional organizations working towards enhancing private sector participation
in the EAC and global integration. EABC has an “Observer Status” at the EAC,
which enables us to attend and participate in all relevant EAC activities and
deliberations, not only at the Secretariat but also in other organs and
institutions. www.eabc.info
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